"Notes and Quotes"

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. - Elbert Hubbard

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Response to: Farewell to Zion, Forever

Response to:


Farewell to Zion, Forever

By Matt Schwartz

04/18/09



It's a long discussion which I'd be happy to have with you, but I'll try to encapsulate it as best I can. One of the principles of Judaism is something called "Tikun Olam" -- A God-given mandate to make the world a better place. Jews try to do this whenever they can.


They march in civil rights demonstrations, they give lots of money to charity, they volunteer for worthy causes, they even do things that appear to be against their self-interest. For example, they medically treat wounded enemies who sustain injuries in battle against them. To Jews, the world is not something that is theirs; It is something they are to share with all other people, and it is part of their divinely imposed duty to make it the best world possible. Clearly, no one can reasonably argue that Jewish canons require Jews to sacrifice themselves for this purpose.


Indeed, self-defense is an indisputable moral Jewish axiom. However, Jews, like any other humans, have filters that cause them to process information a certain way because of their world view, and in many cases, it results in cognative disonance. A mild case of this result is mere bias. A severe case of this result is vexing irrationality. Jews, like anyone else, will rationalize circumstances so that they fit their belief system. They will ignore or distort facts that undermine their belief system, and they will give undue consideration to dubious assertions that tend to support their belief system. This is not a Jewish condition. It is quotidian human behavior.


The real question is, why are most American Jews Democrats. Note that I said most "American" Jews. Because the fact is that about 99.9% of Russian Jews are to the right of Matt Schwartz and Don Moore. They have a different life experience -- One of oppression and persecution. That experience will shape your belief system about freedom like no other. The American experience has, thankfully (and to some extent not, as you may already be beginning to understand) has been, for the most part, one of tolerance and inclusion.


American Jews have been so fortunate -- maybe too fortunate -- that they have begun to take their liberty for granted (like most liberals). This wonderfully benign condition evolved nearly to perfection only in the 20th Century. Before then, Jews were less accepted, less tolerated and affirmatively discriminated against in America. They weren't persecuted as badly as they had been almost everywhere else in the world, but America before the 20th Century was much less hospitable to Jews than it is today.


In the beginning of the 20th Century, America began importing left wing philosophies from Europe (Kant, Hegel, Marx, etc.) Many European Jews were involved in this misguided "intellectual" movement and they promulgated these ideologies in academic circles. Naturally, Jews in America were receptive to the ideas of their European cousins. These were not just ideas with Jewish proponents, but they were ideas that promised protection and equality of Jews along with everyone else.


It was a plan for their general acceptance in society and it doubled as the ultimate strategy for Tikun Olam. (Although it curiously removed God from the equation. The left wing, secular Jewish fetish for government managed equality has made totalitarianism their new Golden Calf. But this is a "secular Jewish" phenomenon. You would be hard pressed to find an Orthodox or religious Jew supporting the Democratic party).


Left wing ideology struck a chord with the tiny minority of Jewish people who had been persecuted horribly from the beginning of time, and there were not yet any mature models against which these principles could be measured meaningfully -- such as Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany or Communist China. As these left wing ideas became incorporated into the Democratic platforms, Jews flocked there in droves and supported them.


Jewish families passed down these idealistic principles to their children throughout the FDR era and beyond, and any other political base became anathema (to most of them). As steadfast left wingers, Jews would perform mental gymnastics to reconcile troubling developments like how FDR turned a ship full of German Jewish refugees back to Germany during the Holocaust. Why would they do that? Because FDR was a Democrat hero who was advancing the left wing agenda. His probable death sentence of these poor Jews from Germany could and should be "explained" somehow.


Maybe as follows: It was a diplomatic necessity at the time and after all, you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs, right? Left wing Jews will work very hard to overlook the obvious in order to preserve their big picture dreams. Obama's selling out of Israel is no exception. Obama is a left wing messiah who will bring the world together (this is the absurd narrative they have force fed each other during their political orgies) Israel, according to the prototypical, secular Jew, has become somewhat of an oppressive and racist state, and it should no longer be an impediment to world peace, world government and the general advance of the human condition. (I don't feel the need to share with you my reaction to such manure. I trust you already know it.)


Nevertheless, not all American Jews were wedded to leftism, and the majority of American Jews who subscribe to this ideology is shrinking. The more Republicans embrace Israel and include Jews among their ranks, and the more the Democrats demonstrate how the left is actually the most prolific source of anti-semitism in America, the more Jews will shift their political disposition as a whole. You see this with the likes of deceased actor Ron Silver, former NYC Mayor Ed Koch and film director Jerry Zucker.


These examples may appear anecdotal, but they are actually emblematic of the change that is slowly occcurring within the American Jewish community. Clearly, as Edmund Burke said, "there are none so blind as those who will not see", but not all left wing Jews remain blind. The younger generations of Jews are far detached from their FDR grandparents and their 1960's radical parents. I see this myself in Jewish circles. For example, I was having a Shabbat dinner with a client of mine and his wife. They are Jews in their 60's and lovely people. As it happens, they named their dog "Che" -- after Che Guevara. Of course, I refrained from sharing my opinion about that. But the wife unilaterallly shared with me a conversation she had with her daughter who was apparenlty disagreeable with the chosen name for the dog. The wife explained that she was honoring Che because he was a "romantic revolutionary for the people." Her daughter retorted that he was just a "murderous communist thug". The wife smiled and confessed that she could not understand why her daughter thinks like that. I just smiled and nodded, but I thought to myself, my God, I wish this change would happen quicker.


My dad, as you probably know, has always been a staunch Conservative. I remember going to Thanksgiving dinner at his uncle's house in Brooklyn every year, and the same thing would happen year after year. Invariably, my dad would get into a heated political argument with eveyrone else at the table, and the only person that supported my dad in these arguments (besides my mom) was his uncle who hosted the dinner -- a gentile who married into the family -- God bless him! I was too young to understand anything that was going on, otherwise I would have been in there mixing it up, too.


Fast forward 30 years -- My dad's younger brother, who was one of his biggest political opponents at Thanksgiving every year, is now passionately right wing, and the really good news is, so are his two kids. (There are now more right wing Schwartzs to contend with.) When I was living in California, I used to go to a Thanksgiving dinner out there with a cousin of mine from my mother's side, and she and all of her other guests were raging left wingers. I had begun to occupy my father's position in a new Thanksgiving tradition. But most of the people there were not my family, and I eventually grew tired of their vitriolic stupidity and I resolved to make alternative plans for Thanksgiving thereafter.


Now, I am very, very grateful to be living in a place where people are receptive to my beliefs. Never again will we be subjected to liberal Thanksgiving slug fests. Now, the topic of discussion includes how Obama will be raping us next, will there be an Israel next year and whether peaceful secession is a viable solution to our disfunctional federal govenment.


I hope this was not too long-winded.


Best regards,


MATT


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"Notes and Quotes" Archive

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